Measure backers, among them casino mogul Sheldon Adelson, spent $21 million defending the initiative. It wasn’t enough to bounce back from the loss of several high-profile political endorsements, as well as opposition from many of the state’s environmental and organized labor groups.

Question 3 proponents argued that increased market competition in a re-regulated Nevada electricity market would have saved ratepayers as much as $11 per month.

Nevada's five other ballot measures were approved on Tuesday

Voters OK’d Question 6, the other energy-focused initiative on Tuesday's ballot, by a nearly 60 percent margin. That proposed constitutional amendment, if passed again in 2020, would require state electric producers to buy or generate 50 percent of their power from renewable energy by 2030.

As of late Tuesday Nevadans also appeared to signed off on measures to scrap sales taxes on tampons and medical devices, enshrine crime victims’ rights in the state constitution, and automatically register residents to vote at the DMV.